


please come home for christmas

by skyestiel



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, Fluff and Angst, Garrison Professor Lance, Holiday Gift Exchange, M/M, Mutual Pining, Post-Canon, allura is alive, attempted humor, but not the canon version of s7 and s8 oops, these boys just can't stay apart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 08:24:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17138348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyestiel/pseuds/skyestiel
Summary: Feeling brave, Lance carefully turns his head. Keith glares at where his hands rest against his thighs. Lance tracks the motion of his fingers, twiddling with a piece of fuzz on his jacket sleeve, the edge of his phone screen.Lance prompts, “When you got there?”“You weren’t there.”or: The Holidays are here, Keith struggles to surprise people, and Lance runs into the last person heeverexpected to see at the airport.





	please come home for christmas

**Author's Note:**

> SO let me start by saying i had waaaay too much fun writing this! after the uh *clears throat* disaster that was vld s8, i decided it’d be fun to write a post-canon klance fic. it follows my own version of the show’s ending though because i have no self-control… oops
> 
> this fic is for a little holiday exchange amongst some friends!! my prompt was: “klance at an airport during christmas.” i decided to have some fun with it and go back to my canon divergent roots. thank you to [casey](https://twitter.com/kevinkevinsonnn) for reading this over and for the hilarious engineer idea! also thanks to [jessie](https://twitter.com/thieflance) and [brigid](https://twitter.com/angst_in_space) for reading this over!! the title is ofc from the song [”please come home for christmas” by the eagles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFWe2aVrIbo) which you should definitely listen to while reading!! **I REALLY HOPE YOU LIKE THIS,[LEXI](https://twitter.com/kciths)**!!! and i hope everyone else enjoys too <333

 

 

If there’s one thing Lance didn’t miss about Earth, it was the airport. 

Waiting for flights to board, grappling with disgruntled flyers and crying babies, struggling with luggage and going through security. Lance imagines this is what hell is like. A loud, human zoo brimming with rage and impatience. He hasn’t had to deal with the hardships of the airport since he last flew out to see his family as a cadet at the Galaxy Garrison. 

He glares at the battery percentage in the top right-hand corner of his phone, silently willing the number to jump up to at least 50%. But it sits at a disheartening 15% regardless of his leering. 

“The audacity,” Lance mumbles under his breath. He glances back at the flight information board, but it hasn’t changed since the last time he checked five minutes ago. “Delayed” is still there in big, blocky red font.

The holidays are the worst time of year for flight delays. Before Voltron, Lance flew out to see his family every year around Christmas. The Garrison was great and all— knowing what he knows now, maybe not  _ that  _ great— but it was several hundred miles away from home. Which was a major pain in the ass when he was young and trying to keep in touch with his overprotective mamá and nosy siblings. 

Now that the universe has been effectively, uh,  _ defended _ and the dust has settled, Lance finds himself travelling pretty often. For the last few months he’s been making frequent trips between home and the Garrison, helping the rest of the team try to reform the place. 

Originally, he intended to provide support remotely. He wanted to help as much as he could but also couldn’t bear to leave his family behind, just like that. Not his parents who wrapped him up in bone-crushing hugs and eagerly prepared cinnamon pancakes for him in the morning. Not his siblings who fought for his attention and invited him to hang out way more than they had in the past. Especially not his little niece and nephew who secured their tiny bodies around each of his legs and refused to let go. With each passing visit to the Garrison, though, Lance found it harder and harder to pull away. 

One night, as he sat around the dinner table in Shiro’s new and spacious apartment, the issue finally came up. Shiro cleared his throat after a particularly large mouthful of spaghetti. “So,” he prompted, staring purposefully into his meal, “I’ve been thinking.”

“Thinking, huh?” Lance smirked. “About what?”

Shiro replied flippantly, “You know, about your visits.”

“Oh. Oh, okay. What about them?”

“Well, I was wondering…” Shiro paused to smooth out the wrinkles in his napkin. “How would you feel about teaching some classes?”

Lance almost choked on a meatball.

“A— wait, like, as a professor?  _ Me?”  _

“I don’t see why not.”

“I’m not qualified, though!” Lance felt his cheeks heating up. “I’m just a guy who used to be a paladin of Voltron! I’m just— I’m Lance!”

Shiro merely smiled, cocking his head to the side. “I think that means you’re more than qualified for the job.”

From that point forward, Lance became a member of the Garrison staff as an assistant professor. The facility certainly had been splintered in the aftermath of their battle against Honerva, but Lance had faith in Shiro. 

If anyone was capable of improving the Garrison’s reputation, of recovering the program’s credibility, it was him.

Plus, every time Lance visited the Garrison, it scratched this indescribable…  _ itch _ just beneath the surface of his skin.

_ I have to find a place to charge my phone _ , he laments with a long-suffering sigh. If his phone dies and anyone in his family is sent straight to voicemail, the National Guard will be out looking for him within the hour. They’ve been on edge ever since Lance came home. Ever since he, you know, disappeared to join the ranks of sentient space lions and then returned years later with the most outlandish set of excuses in the world. 

Gathering his things, Lance stands and skims his gaze over the nearest wall. The sleeve of his jacket, thick and army green, starts to fall, and Lance hastily adjusts the strap of his bag. Weighed down by the tablet Pidge loaned him, a couple Christmas gifts for his niece and nephew, a package of Red Vines, and a bag of Flamin’ Hot Cheeto’s. As he straightens up, his phone somehow slips through his fingers.

“Not today, Satan!” Lance miraculously manages to swoop in before it can fall below waist-level. Cradling his phone in his palms like a kitten, Lance lifts it to face-level. “Gotcha.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he catches an old lady ogling him from her place a few seats down. Their eyes meet for an instant, a painfully long instant. She pushes her glasses up the bridge of her nose and sighs, suddenly  _ very _ interested in the tablet in her lap. 

Because obviously Lance can’t go a single day without a massively embarrassing public display. 

Tucking his phone carefully into his jacket pocket, Lance returns to his earlier mission. “Charger, gotta find a charger.”

Lance circles around a row of plastic chairs and squints at his options. As expected, he’s not the only person stuck with a low battery. Other travelers line the wall with their feet tucked under them or knees against their chest. They sit within a foot of each outlet, close enough for the mounted wireless charging stations to work. 

_ Really?  _ Lance angrily shoves his hands in his pockets and marches along in search of a free outlet. He walks for at least a solid minute until he notices a charging station only occupied by one person. 

Dark bangs peek from beneath a maroon beanie and eclipse the stranger’s face, their eyes fixed intently on a narrow, mostly transparent screen. Lance’s lips curve into an impish grin as he approaches.

He sets his feet and bends at the waist, attempting to make eye contact with this mysterious new Outlet Buddy of his. “Well, hello th—”

Wait.

No. No  _ way _ .

“ _ Keith?” _ Lance’s shrill cry of disbelief echoes through the terminal.

There, sitting with his phone propped in his lap, is none other than Keith Kogane. He’s hardly recognizable in civilian clothing. Never in a million years did Lance imagine he’d witness Keith in a full-length jacket, let alone a black puffy one. Frankly, Lance is upset. He managed to recognize Keith’s mullet from across the desert, in the middle of the night, after a year without seeing him. But couldn’t do the same in a well-lit airport terminal from a foot away? Keith’s head snaps up, gaping at Lance in wide-eyed wonder. 

“Lance?” he murmurs, his lips barely moving. “Wh—  _ Lance _ ?”

“Yeah, dude, it’s me!” A delirious trickle of laughter spills from his mouth. “What are you doing here? I thought you were, you know…” Lance gestures vaguely at the ceiling, the sky. “Out there. With the Blade, repairing the universe or whatever.”

A muscle jumps in Keith’s jaw. “I was. I mean, I  _ am _ .”

“Oh.” Lance finds it increasingly difficult to convey what he’s feeling, what he actually wants to say. This is Keith—  _ Keith  _ is back. “Do you mind if I…?”

Keith immediately scoots over, offering Lance a space between him and the couple at the next charging station. “Yeah, of course. Sure.”

Lance doesn’t need to be told twice. And it’s so weird because he can’t stop grinning and  _ laughing  _ like he’s lost his frickin’ mind.  _ Chill, dude, it’s just Keith _ .

Although the words “just” and “Keith” in the same sentence feel painfully inadequate the second the thought crosses Lance’s mind.

Lance plops in the empty space beside Keith, within arm’s reach of the shiny, black charging unit fixed to the wall. “Wow, so this is, um.”

“Insane?” Keith flashes Lance a shy grin. It stretches and warps the scar along his cheek, just barely, and draws Lance’s attention like a helpless moth to a flame. “A ridiculous coincidence?”

“Something like that,” Lance scoffs. He forces himself to look away as he fishes in his pocket. “I didn’t realize you had an Earth phone, too.”

_ And why don’t I have your number?  _

“Uh, yeah, I actually got it recently.” Keith peeks down at the screen, illuminating the jut of his chin. “Shiro convinced me to buy one. For whenever I visit.”

“Visit,” Lance intones, unable to keep his mouth shut. “Right.”

Realization dawns on Keith’s face. “I— I know, back when… everything was happening, I said I wouldn’t be able to come back, but the situation changed.”

_ The situation changed _ . Lance wants to be annoyed, wants to be angry about Keith not trying to get in touch with him sooner, but it’s like he physically  _ can’t _ . The thing is, right before Keith left, he and Lance got into a bit of a… disagreement. 

It was just like old times. The Red and Blue Paladin at each other’s throats. Driven by frustration, jealousy, and some unspeakable emotion Lance desperately avoided, especially then. Back before Keith and Lance became actual friends, back when slapping the “rivalry” label on their relationship allowed Lance to ignore the truth. That is, of course, until he found out he may never see Keith again. 

The hallways of the Garrison were luckily empty when they came storming through. Keith’s gloved hands were curled into fists, and Lance buried his own in the pockets of his Garrison uniform, barely containing the swell of furious disbelief coiling in his gut. Tighter and tighter, twisting his words. 

“The Blade? Seriously?” Lance fought to keep his tone steady. “Come on, Keith! You could operate from here! We— the team, the Garrison or whatever— we could help you!”

“I’m sorry, okay?” Keith hissed, and Lance swore he caught the glint of fangs. A reminder of his Galra heritage, of the damage he could inflict if he really wanted. “I just think it’d be better if I did this… alone. It’s the right thing to do. I  _ have  _ to do this.”

“But you don’t have to do it alone! And besides, that doesn’t mean you can’t live here, on Earth, and travel whenever the Kolivan crew needs you! I mean, you can’t tell me that—” The rest of Lance’s sentence lodged itself in his throat.  _ You can’t tell me that you’re willing to leave our dysfunctional little family behind.  _ “Have… have you talked to Krolia about this? Or Kolivan?”

“Yeah.” Keith hesitated. His shoulders tensed as he typed in the passcode for his room. “I did.”

Lance stomps through the entranceway behind him. “Really? Because there’s no way they think this” —he spreads his arms, clipping his fingers on the metal doorframe without even registering the pain— “is okay!”

“They understand where I’m coming from.”

“What about Shiro?”

Keith swiveled to face Lance, outrage clear in the way he snarled, “I didn’t think we were even friends anymore!”

Lance visibly flinched like he’d been punched in the stomach. Every breath was an effort, every inhale more laborious than the last.  _ Anymore _ . “Well— that’s because we’re not!”

_ Lies _ , Lance’s subconscious accused.  _ Stop! _

Keith retreated, his expression contorted. “Then you should be happy I’m not coming back.”

A response completely evaded Lance in that moment. The most critical moment, the turning point of their dispute. And then his mind conjured up the  _ worst  _ rebuttal ever. 

“It isn't like I’m not used to you leaving.”

Lance regretted it immediately. But the words were already out there in the open. There was no taking them back. 

Keith wore a wholly uncharacteristic expression. Of disappointment, of confusion. And, most importantly,  _ hurt _ . 

He hadn’t spared Lance another second. The fists at his sides clenched and unclenched, his jaw mimicking the motion. He turned on his heel and, voice barely above a whisper, breathed, “Goodbye, Lance.”

And, every day since, the conversation has haunted Lance. 

At night, as his eyes slide shut, he pictures the Galaxy Garrison commons in vivid detail. The cramped confines of Keith’s room when they marched down the hall, grumbling and firing meaningless insults at each other the entire way there. Keith’s quivering voice when he said goodbye. And each time, Lance tortures himself with better responses to the bomb Keith dropped on him. The bomb that, in retrospect, Lance should’ve seen coming. Sometimes he even considers what would’ve happened if he'd been honest with Keith— told him that he couldn’t stand the thought of never hearing from or seeing him ever again. 

Which, God, talk about some personal development. Who would have ever thought  _ Lance  _ would care about never seeing Keith again?

Now that he reflects on it, Lance is surprised Keith’s willing to even have this conversation. If he were Keith, he would’ve bolted at the mere mention of Lance’s name.

_ No you wouldn’t, you fool _ , Lance’s subconscious snidely points out. 

Keith averts his gaze to the floor. “I was talking to Krolia, and, uh. I realized I didn’t want to completely cut ties with Earth.”

“Huh.” Lance hooks his chin over his bent knees. “So, you realized I was right?”

_ Oh sweet Jesus.  _ Lance bites his tongue, hoping to stifle any more panic-induced,  _ dumbass _ commentary.

But Keith— Keith’s temper doesn’t flare. He doesn’t stomp off like he quite honestly should. Instead, he raises his head, violet-gray eyes fixating on Lance. He searches Lance’s expression before answering, “Yeah, I guess you were right.”

Lance laughs nervously, silently willing his stupid cheeks to quit burning. “Wh— Am I dreaming right now? This feels like a dream.”

“I don’t think so.” Keith’s lips curl into a fondly exasperated smirk. He makes a point of pinching his arm before shrugging. “Nope, I’m pretty sure this is real.”

“There’s no way Keith Kogane admitted I, Lance McClain, was right about something.”

Keith rolls his eyes with an audible grumble. “Never mind. I should’ve known you’d be all—  _ you  _ about this.”

“This?” Lance chooses to ignore Keith’s half-hearted dig at him. Because, really, there’s a bigger problem here. “Actually, yeah, what is…  _ this _ ? What brought you here?”

Suddenly, a woman’s voice filters through the terminal. Monotone, clearly bored with the news she has to relay to the passengers. 

_ Happy Holidays, everyone. We have an announcement regarding the flight delay. An engineer is coming to resolve the issue.  _

Lance throws an incredulous look at the overhead lights. Quietly, Keith shifts and settles his phone in his lap. “To Earth?”

After years spent together in space, Lance can smell Keith’s bullshit from a mile away. He’s playing dumb— he understands  _ exactly  _ what Lance is asking about. “Don’t play games with me, team leader. You know what I mean. Why are you here, at the airport?”

Keith visibly closes in on himself. Like a rolly polly bug, tucking its body into a ball to protect itself from danger. “Oh.”

“Yeah,  _ oh _ .” Lance sinks against the wall, giving Keith some space. His eyes flutter shut, and he groans. “As you can imagine, I’m a little confused right now.”

A few moments of silence pass. Tension lingers in the air between them, charged with withheld apologies and reluctant truths. Eventually, Keith makes a noise halfway between a grunt and a scoff. The rustling of his clothes is somehow deafening, drowning out the chaos of the terminal surrounding them.

“I came back to the Garrison,” Keith starts, his tone raspy, “because I wasn’t sure where else to go. I spent most of my life out in the desert or there, as terrible as it sounds. And in a weird way— well, never mind. You probably wouldn't understand.”

Lance's gaze is unflinching. “Try me.”

“I… in a weird way, I missed… everything? Not the war, not the fights or the injuries. But the— the rest.” Keith inhales shakily. “Sorry, that makes me sound crazy, doesn't it?”

“No, god,” Lance insists, furiously shaking his head. “I get it. I— I get it, dude.” 

The muscles in Keith's face relax instantly. Like he'd been waiting for someone to agree— for  _ Lance  _ to agree. He carries on, posture significantly laxer. “Anyway, the Garrison is where Shiro has always been. It’s where Pidge and Hunk are working now. And I heard from Shiro that you were teaching there, too.”

Lance swears his heart skips a beat in his chest. Keith asked Shiro about him? Did he.. Did he  _ talk  _ to Shiro about him? 

“So, I decided that if I was returning to Earth, I was heading to the Garrison. Especially when Shiro told me they were hosting a big celebration for, uh, Christmas. But when I got there…” Keith trails off. 

Feeling brave, Lance carefully turns his head. Keith glares at where his hands rest against his thighs. Lance tracks the motion of his fingers, twiddling with a piece of fuzz on his jacket sleeve, the edge of his phone screen. 

Lance prompts, “When you got there?”

“You weren’t there.”

Lance only has a second to  _ scream at the top of his lungs  _ within the safety of his own skull before Keith rushes on with the rest of his explanation. 

“I was hoping to speak to you— all of you! I mean, according to Shiro, even Allura, Coran, and Romelle were flying in. So, I was disappointed when I found out that you were already gone. And I thought, maybe, I don’t know. That your absence was a sign I should leave—”

“ _ Keith—” _

“But Shiro pulled me aside and did his Shiro thing. And after I calmed down, I came up with this... this idea,” Keith finishes, looking winded. 

At this point, the suspense is  _ killing  _ Lance. He scrutinizes the satchel tucked against Keith’s side. “Okay, what idea?”

It’s incredible how quickly color floods Keith’s face. Brightening his cheeks and extending down into his shirt, swaddled in black fabric and downy feathers. Rather than answer, Keith splutters and, in a gesture Lance oddly hopes is subconscious, tucks his chin against his chest. Almost like he hopes he can hide from responding. 

“Oh, come on, now you  _ have  _ to tell me!” Lance shimmies over until he’s directly in front of Keith, legs tucked underneath him. “Please?”

Again, the female voice fills the terminal.  _ Attention, holiday flyers _ .  _ The engineer has gone to retrieve a wire. _

Lance’s eyebrow twitches. They really don’t need the play-by-play.  _ But go off, I guess _ .

Keith snorts and shakes his head. “I mean, it doesn’t really make sense to tell you now. I already ruined the surprise.”

_ The— the surprise? _

“Uh, no, I don’t think so. Because whatever you tell me right now, I’m gonna be surprised.”

“That’s not... But…” Keith lets out an aggravated huff. “Dammit.”

Something about the skewed way Keith’s beanie now sits atop his head, about his frickin’ normal ass  _ civilian clothes  _ that somehow don’t retract from his attractiveness, about the obvious frustration and tremble in his voice, drag the next words out of Lance. “I’m sorry.”

Keith’s head jerks up, zeroing in on Lance. His brows draw together, accentuating the new creases lining his forehead. Creases that weren’t there when they were young pilot-hopefuls at the Garrison. “Why… Why are you apologizing?”

_ Uhhhhhhhhhhh. _ Oh, good. Lance has conveniently forgotten how to form actual sentences.

“Because— you know.”

“I don’t think I do.”

Lance’s mouth opens and closes uselessly. He knows exactly what he’s sorry for— but for some reason his brain doesn’t want to share those thoughts with Keith. 

Another announcement, this one remarkably solemn.  _ Update on the flight delay. The engineer brought the wrong wire. And had to go find the correct one. _

Then, to Lance’s astonishment, Keith laughs. 

He can’t tell if it’s due to the amusingly somber announcement or Lance’s inability to speak. Either way, it’s not a small giggle or even an accidental chuckle. Keith’s body shakes with the force of it. Breathless, beautiful laughter that claims Lance fully with its charm. There’s no way he could tear his eyes away even if he wanted to. 

Eventually, Keith settles down just enough to talk through each wobbly breath. “We— we really are… quite the pair, huh? Look at us.” He gestures between the two of them. “Can’t even hold a regular conversation.”

“Speak for yourself.” Lance pouts in weak protest.

“Says the guy who can’t even tell me what he’s apologizing for.”

“I— Hey, I was getting there!”

Keith smirks, and Lance distinctly feels his heart creeping up his throat. “Uh huh. Of course you were.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll tell you right now,” Lance snaps, nervously gaping at Keith’s boots rather than maintaining eye contact. “I’m sorry for what I said before you… before you left.”

_ Oh god oh god oh go— _

“Oh,” Keith mumbles.

Before Keith can interrupt, the words tumble out of Lance. “I shouldn’t have said that to you. Any of the crap I said! It was a hard time for all of us, and, well, looking back on it, you were obviously stressed about leaving. And I had to go and be a dick about it.”

To his relief, Keith’s lips lift in a slight smile. “You  _ were  _ being a dick.”

“Yeah!” Lance throws his hands up, forgetting what’s sitting in his lap. He fumbles for his phone before it can hit the ground. “I— I definitely handled that situation poorly. And… and it’s been bothering me ever since.”

Keith’s eyes widen, almost comically, and then soften. 

_ Hello, folks! The engineer has solved the issue with the plane, and we are now ready to begin boarding.  _

Lance and Keith jump apart like they’ve been caught in the act. At the sound of the intercom, Lance squeaks and tips backwards, plopping right on his ass. He winces a little at the pressure. “Ouch.”

A gloved hand creeps into his vision, and Lance blinks dumbly at it before letting his gaze wander higher. Keith crouches over him, regarding Lance with barely concealed worry. Tufts of dark hair curl around the shells of his ears. Lance traces the lavender— or is it pink? Scarlet? —curve of Keith’s scar. A clear sign of the passage of time, of the number of years that have passed since they first went into space.

“Are you okay?” Keith’s lips tremble like he’s holding back another outburst of laughter. The thought of Lance cracking Keith’s careful facade, of making him snicker and  _ smile again _ — it kills him. 

Lance whines and takes Keith’s proffered hand. With a tug, Keith helps Lance to his feet. And for a moment, they just… stand there. Silent. Unmoving. Lance can’t bring himself to let go. An irrational part of him worries that if he lets go now, he may never see Keith again— that he might lose him for good this time. 

Strangely flustered, Lance makes a helpless noise and crams his phone in his pocket, retrieving his bag. Keith raises a suspicious brow but the set of his lips is unmistakably affectionate. Lance focuses on gathering his things instead of acknowledging the attention he’s garnered. 

“Well, it’s been real,” he wheezes. “It was crazy running into you, though. Like,  _ really  _ crazy. You’ve gotta give me your number before you run—” Lance snaps his mouth shut, quickly correcting himself. “Before I take off.”

“Oh— uh, well…” Keith glances down at the space between his feet. “See, that’s the thing.”

Lance squints at him. “What’s the thing? Is the phone not real?”

“No! No, it’s definitely real.”

“Oh. Okay, so what is it then? You’re not actually gonna visit again?” The mere suggestion makes Lance queasy. And he chokes around the next possibility. “Or… you don’t want me to have your number?”

“Oh, come o— no! Absolutely not!” Keith tightens his grip on the strap of his bag. “I just— Alright. Alright, remember the surprise I mentioned?”

People rush by them. A gruff man nearly topples Lance over in his haste to get by. Keith flashes the stranger a murderous glare, and Lance feels his cheeks grow distinctly warm. Lance hasn’t seen  _ that  _ expression since Honerva zapped him during battle, and he was sure Keith was about to unleash his Galra side on her. The look of someone intent on tearing the universe apart with their bare hands. 

Lance shudders for the poor airport stranger. 

“Yeah, I remember the surprise,” Lance drawls, eying Keith suspiciously. “...Why?” 

The same woman from earlier makes another announcement, and, somehow, the size of the crowd around them appears to expand. Anxious, Lance throws a look over his shoulder. 

Something wild, desperate, flashes in Keith’s eyes. It’s so like the Keith that Lance used to know. The Keith who challenged Lance over any and everything. The Keith who Lance effortlessly got a rise out of. The Keith he’d somehow grown to care about— in a way that completely differed from his feelings toward the rest of his teammates. 

“Lance, I’m on the same flight as you,” Keith blurts.

“Oh… cool?” At first, the information doesn’t seem to register with Lance. Sure, it’ll be nice to see a familiar face. Except it’s a  _ bit  _ strange that Keith would be headed to—

Lance slaps his hands over his mouth. “Oh my gofh’”

Keith’s shoulders hunch, practically touching his ears. 

“Oh my g—” Lance removes his hands. “You’re not telling me that you’re—!”

“Wow, again,” Keith scoffs, albeit approvingly “I should’ve known you’d be so  _ you  _ about this.”

Keith didn’t just come back to Earth for the team; he came back for Lance. And when that— that deceptively soft, infuriating bastard found out Lance wasn’t there, he decided to just fly out and  _ drop in on him _ ?

“Wait, so, let me get this straight,” Lance ventures, “You’re here to catch a flight.”

Keith’s brows creep into his hairline. “...Yes?”

“A flight to Cuba.”

“Yes,” Keith repeats, more certain this time. 

“To, what— to see  _ me _ ?”

Keith juts out his chin, unerringly confident. “I mean, who else would I be visiting?” 

“I guess… But that’s a long trip, just for me,” Lance murmurs disbelievingly. 

And Keith shrugs like it’s simple, like it’s common sense. “It’s worth the trip.”

A swirl of emotions rages inside Lance’s body, roiling like the waves of the ocean during a storm. His skin prickles like he’s only a second away from bursting at the seams. Bursting with feelings he rarely experiences, feelings he can’t distinguish or describe.

Acting on pure impulse, Lance reaches for Keith’s wrist. 

“Wh—” Keith chuckles breathlessly. “Hey!”

“We don’t wanna miss our flight, right?” Lance grins over at Keith as he falls into step beside him. “That would ruin your surprise.”

This close, Lance catches the shock that widens Keith’s eyes. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I’m not the one who decided to fly out to Cuba on a whim just to see their right-hand man,” Lance hums. He squeezes Keith’s hand, content with the faint flush that rises to his cheeks. “They call that, ‘reckless,’ you know?”

Keith opens his mouth to respond, but Lance is way ahead of him. 

“But that’s okay. Recklessness is a good thing.” Lance brushes his thumb along the back of Keith’s hand. “My family’s gonna _love_ you.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> and they spent christmas with lance’s family and had a magnificent feast and keith ended up covered in shiny bows and they HAD TO KISS UNDER THE MISTLETOE!
> 
> if you liked this, please feel free to leave a comment and kudo! you can also yell at me about what you liked or really just yell about klance in general on one of these platforms: **[tumblr](http://tobiologist.tumblr.com/), [twitter](https://twitter.com/tobiologist),** or **[curiouscat](https://curiouscat.me/tobiologist)**!!!!


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